Morning Rice

 Children, Cooking, Raising Vegetarian Children, Recipes, vegan, Vegetarianism  Comments Off on Morning Rice
May 232011
 

Morning Rice

It’s National Vegetarian Week!  Hooray!  In honor, I want to share a simple breakfast recipe that I made this morning.  I was hoping my two year-old toddler would appreciate it.  But of course it is a mystery what she will take to or not.

At first she didn’t want to try it because she didn’t recognize it (I assume), but eventually, she was won over, possibly by the fragrance of vanilla and cinnamon.

I wish that I could give proper credit to the source, but it was just on my calendar for the month of May, so I have been eyeing it all month, waiting to make it when I had cooked brown rice handy.  Making the brown rice in the morning before my toddler wakes at 6 is a bit much to ask.  Just trying to get my caffeine in by then is a feat.

I doubled the ingredients for my family of 4.  I left the peeling on the apples, which was fine with my family.

The dish can easily be made vegan with the use of non-dairy milk.

portion:  1 serving

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
  • 1/4 cup lowfat milk or soymilk
  • 1 apple, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl (or on the stove).  Heat on high for 1-2 minutes or until heated through.

Nutritional info (per serving):  calories – 220, fat – 1.5g, protein – 4.7g, carb – 48g, fiber – 7g, calcium – 92mg, iron 1 mg, vitamin A – 35mcg, vitamin c – 5mg, folate – 4 mcg

 

 

 

The Best Peach Cobbler

 Cooking, Dessert, Recipes  Comments Off on The Best Peach Cobbler
May 122011
 

peach cobbler

My husband and I are both from the south, so that means there are some foods, like grits and peach cobbler, that hold a special place in our hearts.  He is particularly fond of peaches and we had plenty of canned and jarred, so I made a peach cobbler recently.

I had tried different recipes in the past and the one I used tonight so far surpasses the others.  It was simple and did what the directions said it would do – that the batter would rise to the top and browned nicely.  It also didn’t seem to take as long to bake as a previous recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 cups fresh peaches, pitted and sliced
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 cups water

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter a 9×9 inch glass baking pan.
  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and 1/2 cup sugar.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk.
  4. Spread mixture evenly into baking dish .
  5. If using canned peaches, drain thoroughly, reserving the juice. Spoon fruit over batter.
  6. Sprinkle with cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar. Pour fruit juice or water over the top.
  7. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 45 to 55 minutes. During baking the fruit and juice go to the bottom and the batter rises.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 262 | Total Fat: 8.3g | Cholesterol: 22mg

perfectly baked peach cobbler

Source:  All Recipes

Swiss Chard with Garbanzo Beans and Noodles

 Cooking, Recipes, vegan  Comments Off on Swiss Chard with Garbanzo Beans and Noodles
Nov 222010
 
Chard and chickpeas

Swiss Chard with garbanzos

This is great Fall comfort food.  I’m not too familiar with chard since I didn’t grow up with it.  We found some at a Farmer’s Market that had gotten ignored in my fridge and needed to get used up.

I found a recipe on-line that I modified with the addition of more spices, vegetable broth and noodles.  I topped it with a  parmesan cheese mix.   It can easily be made vegan without the use of cheese.  It’s a complete one-pot dish with sufficient protein.  As a bonus, my toddler liked it.

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • 1/2 cup garbanzo beans, drained
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 bunch red Swiss chard, rinsed and chopped
  • 1 tomato, sliced
  • 1/2 lemon, juiced
  • cumin
  • pinch of asafoetida
  • about 2 cups egg noodles
  • about 2 cups vegetable broth

Heat olive oil in a large skillet.  Stir in shallot and green onions; cook and stir for 3 to 5 minutes, or until soft and fragrant. Stir in garbanzo beans and seasoning, along with salt and pepper; heat through.  Place chard in pan, and cook until wilted.  A dd noodles, tomato slices, stock and cook, covered until noodles are soft.  Add enough stock to achieve creaminess desired.  Squeeze lemon juice over mixture, and heat through. Plate, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Greek-Style Quinoa Burgers

 Cooking, Fitness, Recipes  Comments Off on Greek-Style Quinoa Burgers
Oct 252010
 

Healthy, low-fat quinoa burgers

Quinoa is a protein-rich super grain and comes in many colors.  It is a new discovery for me and I’ve been trying to use it more.

In a pot, bring 3/4 cup water to boil, add 1/2 cup rinsed quinoa.  Cover and reduce heat.  Cook until liquid is gone – 12 minutes.  Add 1 shredded carrot, 3 thinly sliced green onions, 2 cups canned (or cooked dried) white beans, 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs, 1 egg, 1 tsp. cumin and 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper.  Mash well.

Form mixture into 4 patties.  (If needed, dip hands in water to prevent sticking; and if too soft, put in fridge for 5 minutes to firm.)  In skillet, cook patties in 4 tblsp. oil – 8 minutes on each side.

Quinoa burgers cooking

Serve in pitas topped with a spoonful of plain non-fat yogurt or low-fat sour cream, sliced cucumbers and sliced green onions.

Chili Fest Chili

 Cooking, Recipes  1 Response »
Mar 122010
 
chili fest chili

Chili Fest Chili With Yogurt-Cilantro Topping

This is chili with a kick.  I entered it into my husband’s coveted chili cook-off at work today.  I won 2nd place last year.  Back then, I had by chance already made chili for the family when Porter had mentioned the contest.  It was different because I had just tried a tip I picked up from the Food Network about using couscous to thicken the chili.  It worked!

This year, I decided to pull out the big guns with this recipe I found in “Moosewood Restaurant, Cooking For Health.”  It looks like their latest book and I consider whatever they write to be a bible for vegetarians.  It has some intriguing ingredients like cinnamon, molasses, cloves and the big kick and flavor from chipotle pepper in Adobo sauce.  Not being conservative with the chipotle led to my downfall for this competition as it turned out too hot for most.  It was helped with the use of chips and the topping of cilantro yogurt also cooled things off.

I am telling you as a warning so you don’t make my mistake, esp if you are cooking for others who don’t like their food too spicy, like my husband.  I do just fine and I kept wanting more.  The chipotle burns your tongue and you can feel the warmth from the cloves in the back of your throat.  I my eyes got teary and my nose was getting runny, but I was ready for more…Maybe it would be a great cold reliever!

Serves 6 to 8, yields about 9 cups, time:  ~ an hour

Ingredients

  • 2 tblsps vegetable oil
  • 1 cup diced onions
  • 2 cups diced bell peppers
  • 1 cup diced carrots
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1 1/2 tblsps ground cumin
  • 1 tblsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tblsp paprika
  • 1 tblsp canned chipotles in adobo sauce (I used a rounded tblsp – don’t do that unless you like your chili fiery.  Use less than tblsp if making for others that don’t like things very spicy)
  • 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
  • 1 tblsp molasses
  • 2 15-oz cans red kidney beans, undrained (I used mostly from scratch that I had on hand)
  • salt
  • 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
  • 3 tblsps chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

  1. In a soup pot on high heat, warm the oil briefly and then add the onions and bell peppers and saute for 5 minutes.  Add the carrots and celery, reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  2. Stir in the cumin, coriander, oregano, cinnamon, cloves, and paprika, cover, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so the spices won’t stick.
  3. Meanwhile, in a blender, puree the chipotles and adobo sauce with the tomatoes.  Add the pureed tomatoes, the molasses, and the beans with their liquid, to the soup pot.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer, stirring often, for 30 minutes.  Add salt to taste.
  4. While the chili is cooking, in a small bowl, stir together the yogurt and cilantro and set aside.
  5. Serve the chili topped with the cilantro yogurt.

Variations: (I’m looking forward to trying this in the future) Add tempeh:  Cut 8 ounces of tempeh into 1/2-inch cubes.  Warm a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a skillet on medium-high heat and cook the tempeh cubes, stirring often, until browned, about 5 minutes.  Stir in a tablespoon of soy sauce.  Add the browned tempeh to the chili just before serving.

Adjust the amount of chipotles to suit your taste for “hot.”  You can start with less and add more finely minced chipotles after the chili has simmered for 15 or 20 minutes.

Use 1 can of red kidney beans and 1 can of black beans.

Per 1 serving, 1 generous cup – calories:  210, protein:  11g, carbs: 34g, fiber: 8g, total fat: 5g, saturated fat: 1g, monounsaturated fat: 2g, cholesterol: 1mg, sodium: 212mg